Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors that have been used to deliberately adulterate beverages and sports drinks in Taiwan. Phthalates and other plasticizers are ubiquitous contaminants particularly in fatty foodstuffs. Contamination arises from numerous sources such as the environment and food packaging. Cross-contamination with phthalates can easily arise during trace analysis in the laboratory and there are significant advantages in minimizing sample handling through online automated analysis. A method using online Thermo Scientific TurboFlow chromatography is presented.
